


MANIA

by orphan_account



Series: MANIA [1]
Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe- Super Heroes, Alternate Universe- Super Powers, Alternate Universe- Supernatural, Angst, Boarding School AU, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slowburn Relationships, Tagging as Fic Progresses, buckle up babes, somewhat... you'll see what i mean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:19:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19233646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “I don’t understand you, Tozier.” Mike said with a shake of his head. “You have the potential to do great things for this world. Why are you fighting us?”“I won’t be a faceless solider in another pointless war.”[or: PENWISE ACADEMY is a safe haven for all those who are different. Supers have been the dominating force in the world for the last three centuries, and Penwise is their training grounds for North America. They’re not super heroes yet. They’re just idiots with super powers.]





	MANIA

Eddie Kaspbrak watched the Maine scenery moving past him in a daze, his fingertips still tingling. He squeezes his eyes shut as another wave of nausea came waving over him. The last twelve hours still had a sick shakiness to him. The last few weeks had been the most freeing of Eddie’s life thus far, finally having his nights and what best of a life he supposed he could have had. For as long as Eddie could remember, his mother had kept him boarded up in their small Derry townhouse. Eddie had gone to school once, he believed, when he was young and his father had still be alive. After Frank Kaspbrak had died, Eddie had been taken out of society for all intents and purposes. For twelve years, the only person Eddie had spoken to was his own mother. 

Eddie was sick, you see. His mother had always told him so, his whole life. He had some sort of terrible lung disease that meant if he ever got so much as a cold, he could die. Eddie had never questioned her, terrified of how easily he could just die according to her words, until about two weeks earlier. A terrible sense of longing and curiousity had come over him that simple night, and for the first time in his life- Eddie had snuck out his bedroom window and into the night. 

That had been the night he met Martin. Just the thought of that made Eddie’s stomach clenched up twice fold. He could see Martin so perfectly, light up with the lights from the street lights and the moon, always smiling. Laughing. Martin, falling to the dirty ground, convulsing, spitting up blood. 

“I wish we could have found you sooner, Edward.” The driver broke through Eddie’s thoughts as they came pulling up in front of a huge white house. It had gorgeous, old fashioned windows and Eddie thought that maybe it was the most beautiful house he’d ever seen. They certainly weren’t in Derry anymore. “I really believe that this is the best place for you. We’ll be able to help you here.”

Eddie said nothing, but stepped out of the car. The house seemed even larger as he got closer, looming up above him. It was easily five stories tall, and spreading out over a quarter of a street block. Eddie’s breath hitched in his throat, and he fumbled for the inhaler in the pocket of his fanny pack.

“You don’t need that.” A weird, distant voice came to him and Eddie jumped. He turned to face a boy with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes, sitting on a porch swing with a large book open in his lap. He stared at Eddie without blinking and an uncomfortable feeling settled itself in Eddie’s gut. He fumbled with his inhaler and it fell to porch, bouncing down the steps and rolling under the porch. 

Eddie swallowed roughly, and looked up at the porch boy. He was still staring at Eddie, expression completely blank. 

“Don’t mind Bill.” A nicer female voice came from behind Eddie. He turned again, looking at a dark skinned girl wearing what looked like modern battle armour, who was smiling a little disconnectedly at him.  “He’s a little weird. Doesn’t know how to  _ mind his own business.” _

Bill looked over at the girl, his expression still mostly blank though Eddie thought he could see a little bit of annoyance there. He closed his book and stood, walking into the house without a word to Eddie or the girl.

“Bill’s a clairvoyant.” She told him, placing her hand on what looked like a dagger of some sort that was fastened to her belt loop. “He doesn't really mean to pry. He just can’t help it.”

Eddie just nodded, not feeling quite ready to start asking a bunch of questions. He didn’t even know what a clairvoyant was, or how it had anything to do with Eddie’s inhaler. 

“My name’s Kay.” Kay said, gesturing towards the front door of the large building. “I think you’re going to fit in well around here, Edward Kaspbrak. Penwise is the best super academy in the country, you’re in good hands.”

Eddie swallowed roughly, adjusting the ugly yellow gloves his mother had forced onto his hands when he’d gotten home, sobbing. Had it really only been that morning he’d been at home, with his mother, praying for comfort and finding the opposite? It felt like a lifetime ago. “I don’t know what a super academy is. I don’t really know why I’m here. One minute I was meeting my boyfriend and the next-” Eddie let out a rough shake of breath and Kay was giving him a sympathetic look.

“I know it’s hard,” Kay said with a short nod. “Especially when this life is thrusted on you. Half of our mission here at Penwise is to make our students as comfortable as possible at all times. Train them to control what they can do, and train them to survive.”

“Survive?” Eddie asked, voice cracking, heart racing.

A dark look came over Kay’s face. “Just like in any society, there’s a good and a bad in ours. It’s just a little more dangerous with people like us. All our people need to know how to defend themselves, and protect those who cannot protect themselves. It’s our birth right.”

Eddie gaped. Twenty-four hours ago he hadn’t even known that super powers actually existed outside of those Saturday morning cartoons his mother hated him watching, but now he found that not only did superheroes really protect the world- but that he was supposed to be one of them.

“It’s a lot to take in, I know.” Kay chuckled, ushering Eddie into the house. It was even more grand from inside, and Eddie didn’t think he’d ever felt so small and unimportant. “Mike will explain everything to you. He’s much better at this stuff than I am, but he’s in combat training with one of our higher levels so that conversation will have to wait.”

Eddie nodded, turning to attention as a curly haired, properly dressed boy came into the front foyer with a steaming cup in his hands. Eddie suddenly felt surrounded by the smell of the apple pie his Ma would make on Thanksgiving, and for the first time, Eddie felt a pang of homesickness. 

“Oh!” Kay seemed surprised and the boy with the tea looked completely stuck. “Stan, this is Eddie, our new student. Eddie, this is Stanley Uris. His father is our supreme, he’s usually around here somewhere but he has to supervise all of the school in the country as well as our societies so sometimes it can be a few weeks between his visits.”

“Hi.” Stan said, sounding glum. He looked at Eddie shortly and frowned. “And before you ask what my powers are, I don’t have any.”

“Oh.” Eddie nodded. “Okay.’

Stan’s eyebrows disappeared under his spirally hair. “You don’t think that’s weird?”   

“Should I?”

Stan shook his head, a slow smile sliding across his lips. “I think we’re going to get along just fine, Eddie.”

“Okay, perfect.” Kay clapped her hands. “You can show Eddie to his room then. I have to get ready for my next training sessions and I’d rather have more time than this as it is. He’s in room 257.” 

Stan’s lips twitched slightly, a mischievous look coming over his face. “He’s rooming with Richie?” Eddie’s stomach dropped at the obvious amusement on his boy’s face. “Alright, come on you poor bastard.”

Eddie shot a panicked look at Kay, who wasn’t even looking at him, and followed Stan up the stairs onto the second floor. 

“Richie Tozier has been longer than anybody except Mike, and he’s the longest enrolled student.” Stan told Eddie as they walked down the hallway. “He should have been cycled out into a troop or society by now, but he’s a stubborn bastard who refuses to work as a team player. He's been doing the same training over and over until he gets his shit together.”

“How old is he?” Eddie asked nervously, scratching apprehensively at his arm. It wasn’t as satisfying with the gloves on. “If he should have already been… cycling out.”

Stan shrugged one shoulder. “Richie’s 21, but it’s not really an age thing here. It’s not like normie school, with grades and a regular start age. You start when you come here, and you get cycled out whenever you’re ready. It’s usually less than five years, sometimes if a child is young when they’re brought to us, we keep them around longer. Nobody’s ever been here as long as Richie Tozier, without turning into a trainer after being cycled out.” 

Eddie nodded once, not entirely sure he actually understood, and pulled on a loose string on his gloves. “This Richie guy sounds kind of horrible.”

Stan replied in a rather bored, unchanged voice, as though he was still discussing the inner workings of this super academy; “He’s the person I’ve ever met.” 

Eddie blinked, but they reached the door at the end of the hallway, and Stanley let him both in without knocking. Sitting at the desk was a girl with long brown curls, wearing a flowery yellow dress and knee high black boots. 

“Hey, Rich.” Stan greeted the girl, rolling his eyes slightly. 

The girl, Richie apparently, stood up and it seemed like she morphed in front of Eddie’s eyes. No longer was there a small, dark haired girl standing in front of him- it was now a very tall, scrawny dark haired guy in the same dress and boots. He shot Eddie such a dirty smirk that Eddie felt his face burn bright red and turned back to Stan, silently begging for an explanation.

Stan rolled his eyes. “Richie has the power of mutation. He can make himself look like anything he wants, whenever he wants. It’s rather annoying, really.”

Almost as though to prove Stanley’s statement, Richie morphed suddenly into a large yellow canary and fluttered over to land on Stan’s shoulder. A small little bashful smile crossed Stan’s face as he scratched at Richie’s little bird head. “Boy of many faces. Do you maybe mind sticking with the one you were born with for the comfort of your new room mate?” 

Richie flew from Stanley’s shoulder and morphed in mid-air, dropping down onto the bed and pressing his arms behind his head. He was the boy again, with a head full of messy black curls and a goofy, childish grin. And he was naked, dress and boots left behind from his bird transformation moments earlier. 

Stan, at least, seemed to have some sense and tossed a large black sweater that seemed to be advertising that Goonie movies from the early 80s. Richie shrugged it on and settled on his messy bed.

“Aren’t you going to… put pants on?” Eddie asked timidly. 

Richie raised an eyebrow at him. “Why would I wear pants when I could just not wear pants?”

Eddie supposed he didn’t have an answer for that, and forced himself to look away from Richie’s legs. They were shaved, all the time apparently, and Eddie found it harder to look away than it should be. If the slight smirk on Richie’s lips meant anything, he could tell.

“What are you in for here, Eds?” Richie asked, and Eddie found his nerves almost instantly soothed by the sound. Despite the situation, and undeniable weirdness about his room mate, Eddie found himself comfortable with him already. Eddie hadn;t known many people in his life,  and he thought that should make him suspicious of strangers, but he’s found that not to be the case. Eddie was ready to throw himself to the potential love and acceptable of every person he passed in life. 

Perhaps a weakness, but Eddie chose to see it as a strength. He could see that all of his belongings had made themselves already into the room somehow, so Eddie moved carefully to sit down on the bed crossed legged. 

“Okay,” Stan said, glancing around at the space between their two beds. You could see where Richie’s well-worn room turned into Eddie’s brand new one, practically a line in the ground. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” Stan turned to point at Richie. “Richie. Be nice.”

Richie pressed a hand to his chest, making a mockery of an insulted noise. “I’m  _ always  _ nice, Staniel. Thank you very much.”

Stan shot Eddie a small, very forced smile then ducked out of the room. Eddie could feel Richie’s eyes on him, and shivered. “Well.” Eddie cleared his throat awkwardly. “Aren’t you going to ask me? About why I’m here?”

“Nah, dude.” Richie shrugged, grabbing a rather thick looking book from underneath his pillow and opening it, leaning back against his bed with a bored expression. “That’s your business. You can tell me if you want-”

“I killed my boyfriend.” Eddie broke through Richie’s nice dismissal. Richie’s mouth froze mid-word,  eyebrows bouncing up underneath his messy curls. Eddie felt his entire body rush hot. “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident, I didn’t know-”

“Relax, kid.” Richie said, lowering his book and giving Eddie an amused expression. “If anybody thought you were dangerous, or evil, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be up at Juniper.”

“What…” Eddie cleared his throat. “What’s Juniper?”

Richie smirked. “All in good time, Eds. All in good time.”

 

⤿ Beverly Marsh hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, still resting angrily against the ground. Mike Hanlon kicked against her ankle, prompting another groan. 

“You’re strong, Marsh.” Mike said, Beverly still refusing to open her eyes. She let herself remain against the cold floor, listening to the ages old lecture that Mike gave her during every sparring session they had together. “You’re stronger than maybe anybody who has ever been to this school.”

Beverly peaked up at him with one eye half open, wondering if she was truly about to be praised by the legendary Michael Hanlon. He held a hand out to her, and she grabbed it, allowing her to be pulled up to her feet. She stumbled slightly once she hit the ground, already healing quickly, but sore nonetheless. Mike was the only trainer who could ever leave her sore. 

“Strength isn’t everything.” Mike said slowly, seriously. “If you’re going to win a fight, you need to fight with your mind as much as your physical strength. You might be able to win against some nobodies, or people untrained, just by throwing punches and kicks until you knock them out. But we have bigger enemies out there, Marsh. They won’t be taken down by pure brute force.”

“So you keep saying,” Beverly said dimly, narrowing her eyes at Mike and crossed her aching arms. “But you and Sir Uris Donald and Kay just keep talking about this big threat but you’ve never given any sort of evidence of it! We haven’t been at war for years! Decades! Not in our lifetime!”

“You’re wrong.” Mike shook his head slowly. “Our kind will always be fighting for our rights and our freedom- from those who would choose to ignore us, and from those who wish to see us extinct.”

“That will never happen.” Beverly said fiercely, shaking her head. “There’s too many of us, and we’re too fucking powerful. There’s no way a Civie government will be able to take us out! I’d like to see them try!”

“That might be so.” Mike said dryly. “But it’s not just Civies that would like to see our society in ruins.”

Beverly swallowed roughly, furrowing her brow. She shook her head and pursed her lips. “You can’t expect us to prepare for some bullshit war that you won’t explain and have no evidence of, Hanlon. It’s not fair. I know you’ve been cycling students out to troops ten times more often than to societies, that’s not how it’s supposed to go!”

“Do  _ not  _ raise your voice to me, Marsh.” Mike said harshly, but the pain in his eyes made Beverly’s stomach dropped. “You and Tozier should know better than anybody here why we’re constantly in preparation for war, I don’t know why you both continue to fight us in your training. We are only trying to help you and defend our people. War  _ is  _ coming, sooner than we’d like. Upperclassmen or not, you’re not entitled to any information until you completely finish your training. If you want information, if you want to know what is going on,  _ let me train you.”  _

Beverly nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay, let’s go. Bring it on.” Beverly raised her arms, wincing at the ach in her limbs. 

Mike let out a small laugh. “No. You’re done for today. Hot shower and sleep. We’ll meet again tomorrow morning, for laps.”

Beverly groaned, accepting the towel that Mike tossed at her while laughing. 

 

⤿ Subject Nineteen dropped down to her knees, bowing her head. The room was silent around her, not even a single whisper coming through the crowds of people that were gathered. The Higher Power walked around her in a suit, polished to perfection, with the bright spurts of light coming out of his finger tips every time he completed the circle.

“Our time is coming!” The Higher Power shouted through the room. “No longer will we bend to the demands of Donald Uris and his spineless heroes!” The crowd all screamed, applauding the declaration. “No longer will we act as lesser than the civilizations that cannot stand before us!” More screaming, more applauding. “We stand now, our own free people, to take the world that we deserve! We will not be silenced anymore!” 

The screaming was almost defeatening and Subject Nineteen wrinkled her nose at the noise.

“Daughter. Stand.” The Higher Power said, lifting his hand as sparks shot out towards her. Subject Nineteen rose immediately, standing with the straightest posture and looking over the Higher Power’s shoulder, knowing to never meet his eye. “You have out shone every other child of mine, gone above and beyond what I could have ever dreamed. And now, daughter, you go forth and you do the unthinkable- you make our path to freedom. Our future society rests on you.”

The Higher Power handed forward pieces of paper, and a bag of what appeared to be clothes. Subject Nineteen accepted them, nodding curtly. The Higher Power turned back to the crowd and spread his arms wide. “My daughter will join the Uris Society and rumble it from the inside, so that we may come in and ruin it beyond repair. Our saviour.”

As the crowds screamed for her, bowing towards her, Subject Nineteen looked down at the papers in her hand.

**_MAINE CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH. Blum, Patricia Marriott._ **


End file.
